Various strut and pylon configurations are utilized for mounting and securing both open rotor and turbofan propulsor engines to commercial aircraft. Typically, such engines are attached by struts and/or via pylons to the aircraft wings or to the airframe of the aircraft. The airframe (sometimes referred to as a primary structure or fuselage) consists of a series of vertically and horizontally oriented framing or ribs that encircle a cabin area for transporting personnel and cargo. The outboard of the airframe is generally covered with a metal or composite skin, while the interior of the airframe may be generally covered with sidewall trim panels formed of, for example, reinforced molded plastic.
Propulsor engines are commonly attached to aircraft in a variety of locations, including the wings, tails, and even within the nose of the fuselage in cases of single engine aircraft. Engines are also secured to the tops of fuselages in cases of some seaplanes adapted for landing and taking off from water. For most commercial aircraft, however, at least two engines are generally involved, and they are most often attached directly to the wings or to the tail or empennage of the aircraft.
Commercial aircraft with wing mounted propulsor engines typically support such engines for suspension slightly below the physical wing structure of the aircraft. Such designs are associated with numerous passenger aircraft cabin benefits, including reduction of engine noise and noise from outside air turbulence. In response to continued demands for increased performance, however, and as the physical sizes of such wing mounted engines have come close to their practical size limits, there are greater incentives for physically placing commercial aircraft engines above, rather than below, the wings.
Several challenges are presented by larger above wing propulsor engines, including a need to compensate for increased engine and turbulence noises associated with having engines above rather than below the wing, the latter due in part to greater torsional vibrations associated with physically larger engines. At least one approach to reducing associated noises may be to reduce levels of physical vibrations by making improvements in apparatus and methods of mounting and securing the engines to the aircraft.
Thus, it is therefore desirable to provide a novel aircraft engine mounting and securement system for increasingly larger above wing engines.